Weird Tales Nov 1926 – The Peacock's Shadow by E. Hoffmann Price
Reflecting the 1920s Western obsession with Orientalism and occult exoticism, this lurid cover captures a robed figure in red raising a dagger over a prone, pallid woman amid flame-dark shadows and idol-flanked altars. The peacock-tail mandala blazing behind the scene evokes mystical menace drawn from pulp fiction's love of the forbidden East. E. Hoffmann Price's tale of 'The Peacock's Shadow' promised readers danger, dark ritual, and transgressive supernatural thrills.
A swarthy villain poised to sacrifice a helpless woman against a blazing peacock-eye mandala flanked by tribal idols — this is peak pulp Orientalism at its most theatrical and lurid. The vivid red-against-blue contrast and operatic staging exemplify exactly why Weird Tales earned its reputation as 'The Unique Magazine.'
“Weird Tales The Unique Magazine November, 1926 Vol. VIII, No. 5 – 25c The Peacock's Shadow by E. Hoffmann Price B. Wallis R. Anthony Oscar Cook H. Warner Munn Maria Moravsky Victor Rousseau Edmond Hamilton Robert Emmett Lewis Frank Belknap Long Jr 25¢ November 1926 Printed in U.S.A.”
